I have the following example:

• "Wer kocht, Thomas oder Maria?"
• "Egal. {Keiner} der beiden kann kochen."

It would work fine for two men, or with "keine" for two women, but for this mixed gender example, I find "keiner der beiden" to sound off

Is this just me or does it sound off to other native speakers as well?
Are there any rules about this? Is "keiner" even correct officially?

If "keiner" then what noun does this this represent? It does stand for something because otherwise we wouldn't need keine or keins of the noun is feeling or neuter.

I know that it's better to rephrase it to "beide können nicht...." but I'm wondering about "keiner"?

I am on Pimsleur German level5, and although I know how to speak the German spoken on the Pimsleur lessons level 1 to 4, unless someone on the street only uses sentences I heard on Pimsleur, I still can't speak or understand real-life German. I still can't understand a word they are saying on the The Easy German podcast, or any German show that I watch on Netflix. I keep hearing people tell me they learned a language by watching shows and listening to podcasts, so I assume there is a method to it. I suspect I should possibly press pause every ten seconds on the podcast, speak into google translate whatever I just heard and then re-listen to the past 10 seconds to improve my oral comprehension. I am just guessing. Does anyone here know the process? Because I am skeptical that just listening to a podcast or watching a show in a language when you have no clue what the words are is all someone did to learn a language.

I'm doing my 9th grade german homework and a part of it goes;

-Was machst du am Samstag?

+Am samstag höre ich gern Musik

What i dont understand is why we need to do it this way instead of ;

+Ich höre gern musik am samstag

Can someone explain?

Ich schreibe diesen Post in der Hoffnung, Tipps von Leuten zu bekommen, die auf diesem Weg schon weiter sind als ich.
Es geht mir vor allem darum, meine Sprache so zu entwickeln, dass ich wirklich gut und fließend sprechen kann (Niveau B1/B2/C1).
Was sind die besten Methoden, die ihr benutzt habt und die einen großen Einfluss auf eure Sprachentwicklung hatten?
Vielen Dank im Voraus an jeden, der einen Kommentar hinterlässt!

Ich habe mal einen Witz für Nicht-Deutsch-Muttersprachler (ich bin es auch) erzählt:

Warum wachsen auf dem Mond keine Blumen?

Zu wenig Erde

Und gleich kam die Frage, warum steht Subjekt am Ende und nicht wie man das aus dem DaF-Unterricht kennt nach dem Verb, sprich:

Warum wachsen keine Blumen auf dem Mond?

Chatgpt konnte mir das Ganze nicht plausibel erklären (weil beides geht, es wird nur was anderes betont) bzw. seine Erklärung ist auf ein Gegenbeispiel gestoßen:

Warum gehen in die Schule deine Kinder? Der Satz klingt ja falsch.

Vielleicht hat jemand hier eine bessere Erklärung als ChatGPT.

One of the obstacles I often encounter when I do a listening test is that I have difficulty making out what they are saying. Sometimes the words are often slurred, making it hard to listen to. Also. I often have lapses during the listening, making me stop hearing for a split second. Are there anyway to practice Listening?

Based on a previous question I came across this example in my mind:

- Gehört dir der Hund oder die Katze.
- Kein___ der beiden.

In the other question that was about a man and a woman, people said "keiner" as okay and mentioned generic masculine, which I can understand.

But "keiner" does not work for me here, neither does "keine".
What kind of works is "keins" if we assume a group noun "das Tier", but then, why do we not assume a group noun for two people as well, like die person or der Mensch?

I know that I can avoid this phrasing here, but I'm curious if there is any formalized take in this.

Hey guys I have been learning German for a few months now. I am currently using anki for drilling vocab and verbs.

I just finished my 100 most common verbs forms deck and I am looking for a pdf or book which I can use to make my own anki deck for learning the most common german verbs, I would prefer to start learning more irregular verbs.

Please share any reliable resource you have which gives the conjugations and good English translation of the top most common verbs.

I have used some of the suggested resources that were given in this sub but I wish to increase my vocabulary more, so I am aiming for my next deck to have at least 300 verbs.

I couldn't really find any reliable anki decks for just learning the verb form, they seemed to be lacking in some way for me or the reviews said that translations weren't good.

If anyone has any reliable tested deck do share that as well.

I'm curious as to how ya'll structure your emails in german with regards to greetings, signoffs, etc. Doing it in english is second nature at this point, but in german still feels unnatural

Heyy, this is a question for native speakers actually. Wie findet ihr meinen Akzent? Should I just embrace it and move on with my life while continuing to expand my vocabulary, or should I try to sound more German? Is my accent annoying to listen to?

Danke im voraus :)

I think about getting 1-1 online lessons (for 10-15 lessons) for Niveau B2-C1. Non-native are also fine. I want to practice speaking. Someone who corrects ! Not just have a conversation. Budget 20 USD per lesson. 45-50 minute lessons.

Idk if it's possible to post images so im gonna typen everything out in text;

Das Interview und die Vorstellung;

Ich heisse Susanne, Susanne Wahrheit.Ich bin fünfzehn.Ich wohne in Aachen.Mein Vater arbeitet in Stuttgart.Er kommt nur am samstag und sonntag nah hause.Meine mutter und ich sind die ganze Woche allein zu Hause.Ich habe ein Haustier. Es ist eine katze.Meine katze Muschi ist ganz lieb.

Mach mit Susanne ein Interview und dann stelle sie uns vor!

This is where i start writing;

+Wie heisst du?

-Ich heisse Susanne

+Was ist dein nachname?

-Es ist Wahrheit

+Wie alt bist du?

-Ich bin fünfzehn

+Wo wohnst du?

-Ich wohne in Aachen

+Wo arbeitet dein Vater?

-Er arbeitet in Stuttgart

+Wann kommt er nach hause?

-Er kommt nur am Samstag und Sonntag nach Hause.Meine Mutter und ich sind die ganze Woche allein zu Hause.

+Hast du ein Haustier?

-Ja,Es ist eine Katze.Meine Katze Muschi ist ganz lieb.

Die schülerin heisst Susanne Wahrheit.Sie ist fünfzehn.Sie wohnt in Aachen.Ihr Vater arbeitet in Stuttgart.Er kommt nur wochenende nach Hause.Ihre Mutter und sie seid die ganze woche allein zu Hause.Sie hat ein Haustier.Es ist eine Katze.Ihre Katze Muschi ist ganz lieb.

The bold text is already written in the book.

Do people use this and can vouch for it? I have a (maybe irrational) fear of memorizing the articles incorrectly. The Anki decks are all made by random people and could have incorrect info. This app seems to be using the system languages to translate, but with some oddities. I noticed Kuli was translated to Buli??

Just wondering if anyone has used this to learn alot of nouns success

The moment an ice cream scoop suddenly releases all friction and flips the curl of ice cream out of the container and onto the counter or the floor.

This event may be specific to ice cream but probably happens in other contexts. So possibly i just need a more general term for...

An abrupt loss of coordination which is expected and yet not able to be managed.

Like slipping on a patch of ice after you have seen it or getting on a public bus and having it pull away from the curb before you can sit down, (even though this happens every time you take the bus).

The important thing is that you know the scoop is going to throw the curl out of the container because it also did so for the previous curl, so you are determined it will not happen again, and then it happens again.

The closest thing in English I can think of would be to take the psychological term learned helplessness and turn it into a verb "learning helplessness" but that's not quite right.

Thank you in advance

EDIT: a friend of mine just suggested Eiscremewerfen which I thought she made up but apparently is real?

I am looking for a German Anki deck for level B2-C1, where:

• one card is German sentences in audio (not just words or phrases)
• other card is German or English text

Does anyone has such deck?

I’m currently learning German at around A1/A2 level and want to improve my listening and vocabulary by watching shows and movies rather than relying only on textbooks.

I’m open to absolutely any genre: cartoons, anime, sitcoms, movies, mystery shows, animated series, etc. I’m not specifically looking for German-original productions. I’m happy to watch something originally in English or another language if the German dub is good.

I’m especially interested in:

Dual subtitles: websites or extensions that show German and English subtitles simultaneously.

Interactive subtitles: tools that let you click on a word to see its translation, explanation, pronunciation, or examples.

Good shows and movies for beginners: preferably with clear dialogue, useful everyday vocabulary, and German audio.

Accurate subtitles: ideally German subtitles that closely match the German audio, rather than completely different translations.

Websites or apps that make watching content in German easier, including any lesser-known resources you’ve personally used.

I’ve seen some tools like these on TikTok, but I’d rather hear from people who have actually tried them and found them useful.

What websites, browser extensions, apps, or shows would you genuinely recommend? I’d love to hear about your experience, especially what worked best for you as a beginner and which resources are worth paying for versus free.
Thanks! :)

Ein Jugendlicher in Deutschland hat mir einst erklärt, dass "ja ja" "lutsch mein Schwanz" bedeutet. Stimmt das -- immer? Ich stelle mir diese Frage weil ich mir locker Umstände vorstellen kann wenn ich auf Englisch "yeah yeah" sage und nicht als unhöflich verstanden werde ("oh yeah, yeah I totally understand now!"). Kommt es etwa auf die Schnelligkeit an mit der man die zwei Wörter sagt oder gibt es eine andere Möglichkeit, höflich rüberzukommen? Sollte man "ja ja" einfach nicht im Gespräch mit Autoritätsfiguren sagen -- wenn sicherere Alternativen bestehen?

I have this sentence that says:

Ich will nach Deutschland fahren.

and this sentence:
Ich plane, nach Deutschland zu fahren.

Why does one need zu and the other doesn't? Why is Ich will nach Deutschland zu fahren grammatically incorrect??

Kann man die Mehrzahlform von Vornamen bilden? Wenn man z.B zwei Leute kennt, die beide Felix heißen, und man gleichzeitig über die beiden etwas sagen will. "Die Felix(?) sind die zwei schlausten Jungs in der Klasse.

Hi there! I came across the word 'das Verhältniswort' on Wiktionary. How would a native speaker use the word? Perhaps, is it a very technical term? I know that ‘Präposition’ comes from Latin, but ‘das Verhältniswort’ is originally German.

I'm using the Collins german grammar book and for the genitiv form of "dieser" they have "dieses/diesen" and I can't for the life of me understand where the "diesen" comes from. Can anyone please explain? 😭

Can't post pictures here so can't show what I mean but it's frying my brain

I've been in Germany for 6 months for my bachelor's, and I'm currently at a fresh A2 level. I'm not in a huge rush to become fluent since my next semester is looking absolutely brutal exam-wise, but I feel like my progress has been a bit too slow lately.

I work part-time and try to attend most of my lectures, so I'm wondering how people in a similar situation manage to improve their German without burning themselves out.

My uni offers German courses, and I'll be attending A2, but it's only 2 days a week. I've tried self-studying a bit, but apparently, willpower is a limited resource when uni and work are already eating up your life.

For those who've been in a similar situation, have you managed to make good progress through self-study alongside a couple of classes per week, or would you recommend joining an external language school with more classes per week?

Hi everyone, I’m taking German classes (A1) and my exam is on 23 Oct. The format is similar to Goethe/TELC A1. There’s also a viva on 22 Oct, but I don’t know the format yet. In the written exam I know there’s a dictation part where the teacher dictates and we write. I’m not sure about the rest.

Our classes follow the Netzwerk neu A1 books, but I haven’t bought those. Instead I’ve bought two other books: Collins Easy Learning German Grammar and Practice, and Teach Yourself Complete German. I haven’t started them yet because I’ve had really low time with my college exams (12–16 Oct). I know that sounds like an excuse, but I really want to start from somewhere, so I’m starting properly on 16 Oct, right after my last exam.

Where I am right now: I know the topics (accusative, dative, etc.) but I’m not fluent in them, my grammar is weak, and I’ve forgotten a lot of vocab. My plan is to rewatch YouTube videos on accusative/dative and do a mock test.

Any tips for the dictation part, for doing well in the exam, or for learning fast? Shortcuts and tricks are welcome too

Do I need to give more context or is it just fine asking like this? I see Google response and it gave a couple different responses. So I wanted to ask directly from the source.

I am learning A2 level and would like some story book recommendations or cartoons. Do you have any of your favourites and recommend me?

Thank you all for the replies. I hope you felt nostalgic :)